I don’t mean for individuals, but perhaps a cat or two for the entire group.
Reason I’m asking is I saw a Food TV show on Trappist Monks who make fruitcake to fund their abbey, and got to wondering.
I’m not talking about “working” animals, like cows or sheep, or watchdogs. I mean animals whose sole purpose is to provide companionship.
Just a WAG, but I would think that organizations such as monasteries and convents, whose sole purpose is to get away from “the world” and commune with God, would consider that God Himself would be enough “companionship”.
The Monks of New Skete not only keep dogs, they’ve practically made a business out of it. There’s at least two books that they’ve written on dog training. So yeah, some of 'em do.
And many of them feed any strays that happen by, so I’d guess they have them hang around pretty frequently.
I think some monasteries in the Alps keep Saint Bernard’s around to show off to tourists.
At least they did when I was a kid and I read a book about that breed. There was a monk picture standing next to a Saint Bernard with the stereotypical flask around its neck.
I saw a cat at an old monastery in Greece. I think they use them to control the mice and rat populations in those old stone buildings.
But I suppose that could be considering a working animal.
In the 14th century, convents certainly didn’t. Chaucer’s Prioress is breaking the rules by keeping small dogs as pets. (To add insult to injury, she feeds them on “rosted flessh, or milk and wastelbred” – better quality food than most humans at that time could afford.)
Afraid I couldn’t tell you about today, though. (Most of my education is kind of useless that way.)
A Buddhist monastery in Japan, back in The Day, was experiencing particularly difficult times. OK, they were starving. However, one day they happened upon a cat sitting up on his hind legs, with one front paw pointed down slightly, as if to wave. A monk (we’ll call him Rasta-san) took pity on the poor beast and gave him a few grains, even though they had none to spare. [[sub]Something happens next, but I don’t remember what. Make something up.[/sub]] The monks and their monastery prosper, and the poor cat grows fat on rich spoils and lives to a ripe old age. Today, the waving cat is a symbol of good luck and prosperity throughout Japan.
In the upper left-hand corner of this page you can see a comic rendering of the maniki neko. You can probably buy a ceramic one off e-bay.
My aunt is a Catholic nun. She lives in a community with about 20 other nuns, although I have never heard it called a convent. At one time, the nuns had a dog, which lived a long and happy life.
It’s a blurry distinction… Before she got married, my mom spent a few years in a Trappist convent, and spent a lot of time with the cows. They’re not exactly puppies, but I’ve always gathered that they were like pets to her.
rastahomie:
Seriously, could that be the origin of Hello Kitty?
The Sisters of the Poor Claires, who I worked with in relocating their monastery to New Kent County, didn’t keep any pets. They also took complete vows of silence and poverty. A very, very interesting group.
On a related note, here’s what Cecil has to say: Is there a monastery in Greece that won’t even allow female animals?
My mom (a nurse) works at a nursing home in New Jersey which is run and mostly staffed by nuns. The nuns have a dog and a cat, which are both spoiled by everyone there.
I think convents should probably be replaced by “some convents”. Every religious order has different rules, and some convents have their own homegrown rules. I’m not convinced that from one example one can generalize and say “no convent would allow pets”.
IIRC, Chaucer never tells us which order the Prioress was supposed to belong to, but pets (and jewelry) were forbidden by the thirteenth-century Ancrene Riwle (Rule for Anchoresses), which applied to all convents at the time, as far as I know. (I’m not an expert by any means.)
And of course, none of this has anything to do with whether convents allow pets today; I just thought it was an interesting footnote.
One of our pastors kept his cat, Barney, at the rectory-a huge fat fluffy orange tabby-completely spoiled.
And hey, what about St. Francis?
Not a clue. But your theory makes sense.